Massive great white shark found ashore on US beach - and nobody knows how it got there

Police were called to a in Massachusetts, , after a great white was found dead and washed ashore – with no answers as to how it got there.

Officers responding to the unusual assignment on Tuesday had to haul the giant sea creature away on a local tow truck, Fox News reports. Orleans Police Department said on : "You really never know what kind of call you'll respond to on any given shift."

Terrifying images show the scale of the shark as it's being driven away on the back of a tow truck upside down. The police department added: "At least Sgt Elliott only needed to follow the tow truck and didn't have to wrestle an unruly Great White."

Great white sharks have an average lifespan of around 70 years, and can grow to be 21 feet long, according to National Geographic. Disturbingly, these creatures can also weigh up to 2.5 tons, or 4,500 pounds. did not say what caused the shark's death.

While there have been several great white shark sightings in the United States, including off Cape Cod and in Florida, it is believed that the UK has potential to become a new hotspot. Last month, specialist investigators began scouring areas off the UK coast for the sea creature after a string of recent sightings.

Leading experts have already kicked off their search in the Great Blasket Island in Co Kerry, with hopes to the first recorded great white shark in Irish or UK waters. Ocearch, a US non-profit research organisation, cautiously optimistic that they can create history by finding a in the waters where we live.

Chris Fischer, founder of Ocearch, told Sky News: "It would be the greatest gift we could give to any region of the for their future, because that one shark would show people in this area and other research institutions where they can then potentially work on them and get more of the work going."

In Europe, confirmed sightings of the shark have been recorded as far as the Bay of Biscay, which saw a young female great white spotted off La Rochelle in 1977.

There have also been multiple claims of sightings in recent years off the coast off Devon and Cornwall.